Committee Hearing, November 2, 2005

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, November 2, 2005 1:15 p.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER, CHAIRWOMAN RESOLUTION 050841 - Resolution authorizing City Council's Committee on Public Safety to conduct Public Hearings to examine the current regional incidence of domestic violence suffered by women and men, hear updates on measures previously taken by City Council and determine next steps needed to improve responses and increase resources addressing the issue. - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2

Good afternoon, everyone. The Committee on Public Safety's public hearing is now in session. We'll have some other Councilmembers joining us shortly. Because this is not a bill that has to be voted on, we can get started without a quorum. I am Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, who is Chair of the Committee. Will the Clerk please read the resolution.

Resolution 050841, authorizing City Council's Committee on Public Safety to conduct public hearings to examine the current regional incidence of domestic violence suffered by women and men, to hear updates on measures previously taken by City Council and determine next steps needed to improve responses and increase resources addressing the issue.

Thank you. 3 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 I'd like to read a brief statement before we begin. We're here today to address the current regional incidence of domestic violence suffered by women and men and to hear updates on measures previously taken by City Council and determine the next steps needed to improve responses and increase resources addressing this issue. Over the past two decades, Philadelphia has come a long way with respect to domestic violence. When I used to be involved with Women in Transition, it was hard to get a man arrested for a domestic violence charge. The society was male dominated and, therefore, sympathetic to men. Now, through awareness and training, more light has been shed on the issue. Although we have made many strides, there is still a long journey ahead. Just this afternoon, I was reading something, and we were actually 4 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 trying to confirm it, but in 1981, Pennsylvania had a law, so we've been told -- we're trying to find it in writing -- that said that it was illegal to beat your wife after 10:00 p.m. at night and on Sundays. So we just thought that that was kind of funny but kind of strange. It's okay to do it Monday through Saturday but before 10:00 p.m. Domestic violence is about power. It's about one person getting and keeping power and control over another person in an intimate relationship. The abusive person might be your current or former spouse, live-in lover or dating partner. Domestic violence cuts across all lines, racial, professional, economic and religious. It occurs in both opposite-sex and same-sex relationships. Domestic violence occurs in the poorest ghettos, the fanciest mansions and the white picket fence neighborhoods. It's a great crime against human dignity that 5 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 shatters lives and robs children of their innocence. Where it occurs, homes are transformed into places of danger and despair. Perhaps the most heart-breaking aspect of domestic violence is that it occurs in cycles and across generational lines. Children exposed to family violence are many times more likely to become batterers or victims themselves compared to children raised in homes free of violence. City Council has held hearings on domestic violence before. We are here today to hear from people who deal with the effects of domestic violence on a daily basis. We want to hear their stories and what we, as a City government, can do to support these people who are doing what they can do to address this injustice. And we're going to begin with Carol Tracy from the Women's Law Project. Good afternoon. Do you have 6 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 copies of your testimony?

Yes. I have copies of the Task Force report. Good afternoon, Councilwoman, and thank you very much for convening these hearings. We were part of the hearings that were scheduled two years ago, and I think we have some progress to report. As a result of the hearings that City Council convened, Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson, who I see has just come, and I were appointed as Co-Chairs of the Domestic Violence Task Force. I understand the Commissioner has another meeting, that he might want to go before me.

Yes. That's what I've heard, too. Commissioner, you can join Ms. Tracy at the table, and if you are prepared or ready to start, you can do that. 7 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841

Councilwoman Miller, also our new Health Commissioner, Joanne Godley, is here and she wanted to, I believe, testify today, but isn't on the list.

We know. We'll get to you.

I assumed that you would.

Good afternoon, Commissioner. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Good afternoon, Councilwoman.

Please proceed. You know the drill. Give your name. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I am Commissioner Sylvester Johnson, Police Commissioner of the City of Philadelphia. That is true that Ms. Carol Tracy and myself are Co-Chairs, but, actually, if we were getting paid, I would be fired, because she does all the work herself, and I appreciate everything 8 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 that she's done. I'm not just saying that to be sarcastic, because a lot of the meetings that I possibly missed or most of the meetings I missed is because of what I'm doing, but she keeps me well informed of what she's doing, and actually she has really been in charge of this committee and been doing most all the work, and I just want to say publicly that the Philadelphia Police Department appreciates her. I personally appreciate what she does and how she does it. Now, the Philadelphia Police Department is very concerned about domestic violence. Last year, we had approximately 81,000 domestic violence calls. And anything that this Department can do, we will do and will continue to do. I know for a long period of time the Department didn't take domestic violence very serious. That is no longer the case and has been the case for the last four or five years. And I think we 9 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 can always enhance what we do, and we will do it. And as far as the Police Department is concerned, we have our protocol, we have our policy. When a person goes to these particular homes and there's domestic violence, there's no 9 longer, Just take a walk, come back later. If there's domestic violence and there's physical evidence that there's been domestic violence, that person, whether it's a police officer or not, will be arrested and the proper things will take place. In addition to that, we inform the women exactly the direction that they can go, the different groups that they can possibly go to and seek help. I have Lieutenant Healy, who is my legal person in the Department, who is really on top of this and continues to be on top of it, but, again, as far as the Department is concerned, it is a very, very serious type of situation and we 10 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 take it very seriously, and we'll continue to take it very serious. Again, I want to thank Ms. Carol Tracy for all the things she's done and will continue to do, and I will be there whenever she needs me, hopefully most of the time, but at the same time, she's done an outstanding job. LIEUTENANT HEALY: If I could just add one thing. The Commissioner really kind of undercut the effort -- I'm sorry. Francis Healy with the City of Philadelphia Police Department, Commissioner's office. I was assigned by Commissioner Johnson to handle the issue or changing the policy issues for domestic violence. What we had identified, and actually through the Commissioner's office himself, that we had some glaring loopholes in our policy. Basically it all depended upon if a perpetrator or a defendant was present on how he would be processed. 11 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 We've fixed all the loopholes. As we have it now, regardless of whether or not an offender flees the scene prior to the police arrival, he's still subject to facing both the criminal justice system, as he should, as well as the civil system, which is the protection from abuse. In the past, there are many times when the officers got there that the offenders were already gone, and a lot of times the only answer the officers would give the victims would be, Well, what do you want me to do, he's not here. We no longer take that stand. We do aggressively go after the individuals with warrants. It's the easiest warrant to really process. We know where he lives, we know where he works, we know what he looks like. So that's how our Detective Division now handles these cases of domestic abuse, no 24 matter how slight. If there's visible injuries or 12 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES.

050841 visible signs of injuries and corroborating evidence, the witnesses are asked to come down to the Detective Division to give statements. However, a lot of witnesses refuse, for obvious reasons. They're in crisis. But we don't let that go. Our officers that witness the crime or witness the evidence are more than able to testify in court. So the officers, according to our now policy, will go down and make a statement to the detectives, and a warrant will be issued based on the officer's observations. So what happens now is, a lot of the loopholes where people were actually escaping out of the criminal justice system and maybe if the woman took the effort to go get the PFA, maybe they would go into the civil system. Now we're making sure that the offenders are actually addressing both systems. So they have to address the crime that occurred, the assault, as well as the PFA 13 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 issue. And we're making -- we kind of closed the net on that to make sure that these people actually receive the treatment they deserve as criminals and also, on the civil side, either are able to get the treatment or other type of help available to cease the violence. And that's really, as a result of Commissioner Johnson's effort on this, where the Department has gone in the last five years.

Well, that's really good, because I think at one point, if the officer didn't observe the hit, that was one of the detriments to having someone arrested. LIEUTENANT HEALY: Well, the state law says under 2711 under Title 18, we're allowed to make a warrant list arrest, it's called. For most misdemeanor crimes, the police officers can't make a site arrest. So, for example, if a neighbor gets into a fist 14 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 fight with another neighbor and it's not serious, even if the guy had the black eye and the police come up, under the law the police officer really can't make an arrest. I can advise you to go get a private criminal complaint, so it doesn't escape the criminal justice system, but I don't have authority. Well, the state law changed all that with the domestic violence under 2711, I believe. Now what happens is, if I come on the scene, even if I didn't observe the actual incident, if there's corroborating evidence to support the claim that she was assaulted, meaning scratches, bruises, furniture flipped over, I can still make a warrant list arrest of that individual for the misdemeanor assault. So that was a big help to the Police Department, and we do that aggressively. But what happened in the past was just because the individual wasn't on location, they see the police 15 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 cars coming down the street, they're running out the back door, our officers were kind of in a quandary. They didn't really know what to do. I don't have anybody to arrest because he ran down the street and I don't know where he is. What we do now is, we go after those individuals with a warrant. So they still have to address the criminal act that they perpetrated, and this way here, we're not letting half of the offenders slip through the system. This way, they have to address the criminal system. And whatever the sentence may be, whether they're guilty or not guilty, that's not really us to determine, but we're making sure that everybody enters the same system so there's not some people that address it on the civil side only because like I ran out the back door, so all I'm doing is -- all I have to face is a PFA. I now have to face the criminal justice system, which is 16 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 important to make sure these people get either the care or the discipline that they need to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Right. Thank you. LIEUTENANT HEALY: Thank you. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you for coming, Commissioner. LIEUTENANT HEALY: I'll stay on to answer any other questions.

Right.

I would like to add that the Task Force has had tremendous response from the Police Department, from Commissioner Johnson, from Deputy Commissioner Fox, from Inspector Dooley, from former Captain Lynch and now Captain Valasquez. So that it is quite clear in the leadership of the Department that the issue of domestic violence and the Domestic Violence Task Force are very 17 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 important items and understanding of the need to continue to provide more support, and I'll speak about that a little more. What I'd like to do is just give you a little bit of background. Mayor Street formally appointed the Task Force in September 2003, as I mentioned, naming Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson and me as its Co-Chairs. He also appointed the heads of all City agencies and leaders in the domestic violence community as members of the Task Force, and a list of all of them are attached to the end of the report, and I assure you, I'm not going to read the entire report. But the mission of the Task Force is to identify gaps in services or problems with existing systems, to improve coordination among existing services, to make recommendations to fill those gaps and enhance and improve service delivery where necessary, and to engage the wider Philadelphia community 18 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 and media in efforts to prevent family violence. And I do hope that you saw Sunday's Inquirer that had a huge story on domestic violence in the Delaware Valley, showing its prevalence in all communities and in the numbers of systems that interact with it, which a number of us were involved in working with the Inquirer to do that. So the first year of our work was dedicated to developing a comprehensive assessment to really develop an understanding of the unique services required by domestic violence victims and, frankly, of perpetrators as well, once they're in the system. This goal required identifying all the parties who in some way interact with domestic violence victims and perpetrators in Philadelphia, and gaining a complete understanding of what they do. To accomplish this end, the Task Force reviewed laws, procedures, 19 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 services, resources, with significant emphasis on law enforcement, police prosecution, probation, civil and criminal courts. The Task Force also examined the social service delivery system's response to domestic violence, with emphasis on violence-induced trauma and behavioral health, child welfare and housing. And notebooks were provided for each Task Force member that prepared them with written information. Once the baseline of information was acquired, the Task Force reviewed unmet needs of victims and perpetrators to identify gaps in services and to obtain suggestions for considerations. It became very evident very early on in the discussion that we had two critical needs. One of those needs involved the need have a coordinated hotline and the other was to increase our shelter capacity. 20 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 I will let Cynthia Figueroa describe in more detail where we are with that now. There's some very good news. And the other three domestic violence agencies I believe are all here today, who will describe that in some detail. We subsequently have organized ourselves into two operating task forces right now, the Social Services Task Force and the Law Enforcement Task Force. We also realize that not enough funding was coming in to Philadelphia. I should mention, when we identified those two critical gaps, Mayor Street actually contacted me to ask what services we needed, what should be put in the budget, and he allocated in Fiscal Year 2005 a million dollars to improve the hotline services, and that money, I understand, is a line item in the budget, and also additional money for ongoing support through the Office of Adult Services for the increase in shelter capacity.

So that is somewhere along the lines of 750 21 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 to a million dollars in additional funds from the City each year, which has been incredibly important. And, again, the providers will be able to describe more about that. We also realized with budgets being what they are and some federal money available, that we should proceed to try to attract more federal money. So my office and Cynthia Figueroa submitted a grant to the Department of Justice. We actually submitted two grants. There is a special category of funding related to PFA enforcement and pro-arrest policies, and we submitted a proposal, a proposal that would coordinate more of our services and provide more training and more staff, and I'm happy to announce about a month ago the City of Philadelphia was awarded $950,000. That money will include three hours of overtime training for all Sergeants and Lieutenants in the Police Department. It will be some of the most 22 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 intensive training that they receive. This is important for two major issues. The first is that the Sergeants and Lieutenants supervise the first responders, and the first responders are critical in their appropriate response to domestic violence, both in their sensitivity and understanding it and in their responsibility to understand when they should make arrests and to take this issue seriously, and that's particularly important in the enforcement arena of PFAs. The second reason that we think is very important is that the leadership, the future leadership, of the Police Department will be gaining this kind of intensive training around domestic violence, both the dynamics of it and the investigation and prosecution of it, and that's incredibly important. We have also been able to obtain an additional Victim Witness Coordinator for the District Attorney's 23 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 office working in the criminal enforcement of PFAs. Very frequently it's hard to reach people on the telephone, and they really needed an additional staff person to do that, so the grant will pay for that. There are two initiatives that probation will undertake. One is a pilot project working on ankle monitors for probationers who have serious histories of abuse. The protocol for who will be included in that program will be developed by our Law Enforcement Task Force. But these ankle bracelets not only notify probation if a person is within a certain area of the person who was abused, but the victim will also be notified. So it's been successfully used in New York and in several other places. So we will be able to obtain about 14 of them.

We know we use ankle bracelets for house arrests, 24 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 but this is a system where the bracelet goes off if they're near the victim?

The victim's house or place of work. She can't travel with it. It's not that sophisticated yet, but it is a GSP system. And the exact mechanics of it, the Probation Department is more familiar with than I am. They will also obtain a Victim Witness Coordinator or a Victim Coordinator, because one of the problems that we have heard through the Task Force and we've known through our agencies is that it is sometimes very difficult to contact the Probation Officer if probation has been violated and the victim wants to inform the PO about that, because the Probation Officers are frequently out in the field. So this person, this new position, will enable victims to be in touch with Probation Officers, and that's incredibly important. We also discovered a huge gap 25 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 in our court system. The Family Court issues PFAs from 8:00 to 5:00. After hours, on weekends and on holidays, Emergency Protection Orders can be obtained in the Criminal Justice Center. However, the Criminal Justice Center's unit, emergency filing unit, is not computerized, so they do everything by hand, and it gets carried over to Family Court the next day to be put into the database. And that database the Police have access to. So, for example, if a person is abused on Friday night and gets an emergency order and these orders are for emergencies, that there is an imminent issue -- it's not something that happened last week, there's an imminency that is required in order to get an emergency order -- it will not -- and if Monday was a holiday, for example, it will not be entered into a database until Tuesday. So if a police officer responds to it on Sunday afternoon, now she may 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 have that piece of paper, but they are used to pulling up on their computers in their patrol cars a PFA. And according to the Police Department, who have really alerted us to this more than the court did, this is a huge problem. So a significant portion of this funding will be directed towards increasing development of -- getting the emergency filing site on the system that the rest of the court system is on connected to the Police. And, finally, there will be two additional lawyers for Women Against Abuse to help in PFA and PFA contempt proceedings. So we're really very pleased with that outcome. And I think you will hear more about the social service side of it later from Dr. Evans, who is moving forward on dealing with violence-induced trauma, and we are also looking for additional funding for that as well. Last Friday, the Domestic 27 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 Violence Task Force went to New York to look at their Family Justice Center and their new Family Court. We are hoping that there will be a new Family Court in Philadelphia, and anything that Council can do to move forward that would be most appreciated. But we saw what is considered a one-stop-shop in New York Family Justice Center. This was a grant that we had also applied for and did not get, where individuals come in primarily through the District Attorney's office and they see the District Attorney when a domestic violence crime, misdemeanor crime, has been committed. And then there are all sorts of social service agencies, civil/legal agencies, faith-based organizations that are all in the same place. And at this point, they said that people who are coming in, primarily women of course, are accessing three services while they're there and some are coming back at another time. 28 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 What we understand is, it's dealing with domestic violence -- and I know, Councilwoman Miller, you have experience working in this years ago, 6 and in many respects, it's still the 7 same. It's incredibly complex. It is 8 very time-consuming. 9 We did, for the Task Force, a 10 case study where everything goes right, 11 and it's three pages long.

The amount of 12 work that an individual has to do to 13 protect herself and her family is really 14 enormous. It remains a social problem 15 that is still too marginal to public 16 policy. In many ways, it's endemic in 17 the United States. 18 I think what we were pleased 19 about with the Inquirer coverage is that 20 it was clear that this is not an inner-city problem. This is not just a problem of poverty, although poverty exacerbates everything. Many of the murders that we have seen lately have been in the middle-class suburbs, that we 29 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 need much more attention and we need lots more resources, and I think you will hear more about that from the direct service providers. But we are pleased that City government has really come to the table, that the hearings that City Council undertook have produced much more both funding and resources, but commitment to really tackle this problem, because almost all of our social and health in criminal justice systems involve domestic violence. The Task Force report that I gave you outlines all of the individual protocols and services, as well as a series of recommendations that are now under consideration by the two sub-committees and their respective agencies that they're working with.

Thank you. I have a question regarding the ankle bracelets. We all are shocked and upset when we hear about murders, 30 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 domestic violence victims being murdered, and most recently I had lunch two days ago, I believe, with a group of developers that actually knew the Russian female that was killed by her husband and he killed the friend also. Would that type of perpetrator actually be one that would get a bracelet? I mean, who determines that? What behavior determines who gets this ankle bracelet? Because I'm interested in what we can do to strengthen stay-away orders or protection orders, and I would think that that type of person, the abuser whom it's my understanding according to how they described it the other day at lunch, was that it was more than abuse. I mean, they said this person was very, very brutal, and that's one of the reasons why they separated. Who will set the guidelines for who gets a bracelet, particularly if there's only 15?

Well, again, it's 31 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 because it's a pilot program.

Right. I understand.

The law enforcement sub-committee that involves the District Attorney's office, the Police, the Probation Department and domestic violence advocates will be reviewing that. Since it's going through Probation, it is someone who has committed a crime and presumably is someone that all the parties deem to be very dangerous. But we will be more than happy to keep you informed as we proceed, because I think we all are concerned about the most lethal, and this is the homicide, the type of homicide that is preventable, and we want to eradicate all the violence in the family. We certainly want to eradicate the most extreme form of violence, which is the intimate partner homicides. 32 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841

Thank you. I don't have any more questions, but I think Ms. Figueroa wants to come up, and also we'll have the Commissioner, the Health Commissioner, Commissioner Godley. You're new. Can we have Commissioner Godley next. She also has an appointment. Thank you. Do we have copies of your testimony, Commissioner? COMMISSIONER GODLEY: Yes. I did submit copies.

Just identify yourself for the record and you can proceed. COMMISSIONER GODLEY: Okay. Good afternoon, Chairman Reed Miller and members of the Committee on Public Safety. I'm Joanne Godley, the acting Health Commissioner for the Department of Public Health. With me today is Kate Maus, who is the Director of the Division of Maternal, Child and Family Health. What I'll do is read to you an 33 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 overview of the steps the Department of Public Health has taken in order to address domestic violence in Philadelphia. Domestic violence is a critical public health problem in that it has devastating physical and emotional consequences on all persons involved. Intimate partner violence refers to the pattern of violent behaviors inflicted by spouses, ex-spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends, although it most often is a crime against women. Domestic violence is a pattern of assaultive and controlling behaviors that one intimate, past or present, does to one another that may include battering, physical injury, psychological abuse, progressive social isolation, deprivation and intimidation, including verbal intimidation, destruction of property, threats to significant others, stalking and unwarranted control over 34 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 money, personal items, friends, family or children. Research suggests that efforts to reduce the amount of violence against women in our communities must focus on prevention. Ongoing physical violence, psychological abuse and sexual assault from someone a person has known and trusted carry serious medical, emotional and psychological consequences for the victim, persons close to the victim and for society. The Department of Public Health has taken and continues to take several steps aimed at domestic violence prevention by educating our patient contact staff and our MCFH, Maternal, Child and Family Health, outreach workers to identify those at risk for domestic violence and by using violence death review data to develop strategies and policies to prevent future domestic violence. We have also recently operated 35 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 an intense four-year grant-funded family violence initiative in a small target area known to have a high incidence of domestic violence and have incorporated some of the activities developed under this grant into existing programs. In conjunction with the Institute for Safe Families, the Department has provided training to the health center staff, including physicians, nurses and clerical personnel, to screen all patients for domestic violence since 1996. Staff of our prenatal, family planning and STD clinics are included in this training, as a higher proportion of victims are likely to be seen in those areas. While many victims may never disclose the situation to anyone, some may feel more comfortable enough with a healthcare provider to reveal their concerns, if approached appropriately. Staff training updates and reinforcement are provided by the 36 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 Institute for Safe Families. Screening for and identification of domestic violence has become our standard of care at all eight primary care centers. Screening rates for patients seen at these centers continue to increase. In FY05, 9,268 patients were screened. This number was 5,326 in FY04 and 3,742 patients in FY03. When a social worker identifies that patient as a victim of domestic violence or an individual at risk for domestic violence, the imminent risk to the patient or children in the home is immediately assessed. Additional follow-up actions include a discussion of victim and family safety plans, photographing visible physical evidence and a more detailed discussion with social workers and domestic violence experts of appropriate social service and community agency referrals. Every effort is made to ensure patient confidentiality and safety. 37 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES.

050841 The Department requires all Title V and Healthy Start contract service provider agencies that conduct home visiting programs to pregnant women and families with infants and young children and families of children with special healthcare needs to provide domestic violence screening. The need to identify domestic violence victims is also reinforced regularly to all staff persons in the Department's Maternal, Child and Family Health Division. Approximately 1,000 families receiving home visits under MCFH programs are currently being screened for domestic violence two times annually. The Philadelphia Women's Death Review Team, PWDRT, is a multi-agency and multi-disciplinary effort in Philadelphia County to review preventable deaths among women between the ages of 15 and 60. The deaths of the PWDRT are to track the occurrence of violence in the lives of women who die, document the response of 38 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 City agencies and community-based organizations and track the number of children affected by these deaths. The PWDRT meets monthly in a confidential and collaborative forum to review deaths satisfying the PWDRT's case definition. PWDRT members include individuals from government, non-government and community agencies working in the areas of law, health, advocacy and social service. PWDRT uses the data and the experience of its members to formulate key policy and practice recommendations with the long-term goal of improving the systems that serve and protect women and their children. Between 1997 and 2003, the PWDRT has reviewed the deaths of more than 250 women with a known history of domestic violence among all manners of death. Recent analyses have indicated a slight decrease in intimate partner 39 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 violence resulting in death, with such homicides reported in 1997 dropping to 12 reported in 2000. There were 15 intimate partner violence-related deaths reported in both 2002 and 2003. The Department's Maternal, Child and Family Health Division received funding from the Maternal Health and Child Health Bureau from 2002 to 2005 for the Lower North Central Philadelphia's Family Domestic Violence Prevention Project. The Institute for Safe Families was the partner's contract agency to implement the Lower North Central Philadelphia Coordinated Community Response Family Violence Initiative, the Family Violence Initiative in Health District 5 during that period. Activities included the Family Violence Case Review, which was created to conduct multi-disciplinary review of cases of families receiving services through North Philadelphia Healthy Start and who were experiencing domestic 40 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 violence. The team continues to meet monthly despite the fact that the grant has since been completed. Procedural guidelines were developed to promote coordination among medical and domestic violence service providers, the legal system, law enforcement and other support services to facilitate access to needed services for domestic violence victims. Three public community hearings were convened to provide project staff and key community stakeholders with information on community perceptions, beliefs and concerns about domestic and family violence. Two conferences with the theme Domestic Violence - It's Everybody's Business were held 2004 and 2005 for more than 150 social service providers, healthcare providers, domestic violence advocates, child protection workers, Department staff, substance abuse and mental health counselors, 41 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 community-based, grass roots organizations, as well as members of the community. The Men Can media campaign was created including the public unveiling of a poster and a public service announcement and a mural/mosaic project promoting non-violent male behavior in intimate relationships.

V-Day press conferences on February 14, 2003 and 2004 were attended by more than 100 community members, healthcare providers and family violence prevention advocates, and included the Philadelphia Health, Human Services, Fire Commissioners and the District Attorney. A child support group for survivors of intimate partner abuse was created for Healthy Start clients and continues to this day. Six training modules were developed to train providers and consumers. They addressed prevention and intervention methods, policy 42 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 recommendations and community concerns and expectations. The DIVA curriculum, Daring Interventions Voices of Adolescents, a dating violence prevention and intervention was created for young girls. The curriculum was offered to adolescents in a school setting. A Boys' Advisory Council was also formed to help develop a curriculum for boys entitled Peace in Our Relationship. A domestic violence work group continues to meet as part of the North Philadelphia Healthy Start Consortium. This recently completed MCHB Domestic Violence grant has allowed the Department and its Maternal, Child and Family Health Program to focus resources and attention on the serious problem of intimate partner violence among pregnant women and families with infants and young children living in a small geographic area of the City with a high incidence of 43 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 domestic violence in Philadelphia. Since the funding has ended, we have been able to continue to implement several of the activities, including the Domestic Violence Case Review Team and the support group for domestic violence survivors served by the North Philadelphia Healthy Start Program. Should adequate resources become available in the future for domestic violence prevention, the activities developed as a result of this program would continue to be appropriately added to the list of valuable supports used in existing programs for families affected by intimate partner violence. Thank you very much, and I'm happy to entertain questions.

I just have a couple of questions. Thank you for your testimony. It's very interesting that in a particular geographic area, you had a high incidence of domestic violence 44 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 taking place in families. I won't ask you to identify that section of the City, but -- COMMISSIONER GODLEY: It was North Central Philadelphia.

It was in North Central, okay. Also, are counseling services offered to the children of the Women's Death Review Team and women who have been murdered because of domestic violence? How are we dealing with their children? Are there services being offered to them? COMMISSIONER GODLEY: I'm going to ask Kate Maus, under whom that particular review team functions. My immediate response is that the structure of the Women's Death Review Team is not as helpful as it may appear, because there is a two- to three-year lag time in terms of the reviews that are conducted. As you know, on the statistics, the -- I think it was 2003 was the last time period. But in terms of actual 45 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 counseling of children --

And the numbers continue to decrease, the number of deaths continue to decrease. Any particular reason why, and what are we doing?

I'm a core member of that group and I can probably speak to the Philadelphia Women's Death Review Team. Do you need more information on that? COMMISSIONER GODLEY: You wanted the question answered with regard to counseling of --

Well, both. COMMISSIONER GODLEY: -- the children.

Well, it's reported here that in the year 2002 to 2003, it just seems like it dropped each year since 1997, and I wanted to know if you've come up with a reason why, based on your studies, and what does 46 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 happen to the children of these victims in terms of counseling and other supports, if anything. COMMISSIONER GODLEY: Kate Maus will answer that question.

I'm Kate Maus from the Division of Maternal, Child and Family Health. In answer to your first question, we're in the process right now of conducting an analysis of those deaths between 1997 and 2003, and at the end of that analysis, we'll have a report indicating what we're able to say about the reasons why those deaths, what's the reason for the trend, the downward trend. In terms of counseling offered to children whose mothers, most often, have been murdered, because the Death Review -- because the review of these deaths occurs significantly after the death has occurred, we're liable to hear about counseling that will have been offered to the children, but the Death 47 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 Review itself is not a mechanism by which to make counseling referrals.

I understand that. Okay. Well, probably one of the providers can speak more to what happens to children then. Okay. I think I might have one more question.

Councilwoman, our Philadelphia Women Death Review Team has repeatedly recommended that there be --

Come up to the table and identify yourself, speak through the mike.

I'm Roberta Hacker. I'm the Executive Director of Women in Transition. I'm one of the founders of the Women's Death Review Team. We have repeatedly made recommendations, and I'm sure you've seen them in the reports, around increased services for children who witness violence in their homes. In fact, one of 48 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 the initial recommendations that we had made was that when a police officer goes to a crime scene and he or she notes that a child has been present and witness, they make an automatic -- the police now have a protocol where they refer children to the Children's Crisis Treatment Center or the Anti-Violence Network. And obviously throughout the City, you probably are very well aware that the availability of psychiatric, psychological services for children who witness violence are pretty slim. There are two organization that provide those services. And in the findings of the Death Review Team, we have noted that while there's a lag time, we have a lag time in looking at the deaths, because it's an agreement that we made regarding getting access to the death certificates that we cannot look at active cases. So we have to wait for one year past their deaths. And what we hear is a lot of information from almost all the major 49 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 systems in the City regarding the activities of the decedent while she was alive, as well as her perpetrator and her children. So while you were asking a question about the decline in homicides, we're really interested not in homicides per se, but we're interested in the impact of violence on the spectrum of a woman's life, and that's what we're seeing. For example, you've probably seen the report where we talked about establishing the task force for sex workers, which is doing incredibly work with those women, and they happen to be the highest number of unsolved homicides in the City of Philadelphia, and those women have led lives that were filled with all kinds of violence in addition to substance abuse. So that's just a little thumbnail of the Philadelphia Women's Death Review Team. Thank you. 50 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841

Thank you. All right. Okay. Thank you, Health Department, and thank you for coming in. Thank you for your testimony. COMMISSIONER GODLEY: Thank you.

Thank you. So now we'll go to Ms. Figueroa.

Good afternoon, Councilwoman.

Good afternoon.

Thanks for calling these hearings. I want to begin by saying as representing a social service agency, I'm the Executive Director of Women Against Abuse, which represents the largest provider of domestic violence services in the State of Pennsylvania, and in Philadelphia, we run the only domestic violence shelter, as well as the only legal center that provides specifically domestic violence 51 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 services. And I want to be clear that I don't want to be disrespectful or minimize the great things that we're hearing from our City systems, but I also have to start by saying that we're absolutely drowning in the limited resources that exist for victims of domestic violence and that I think oftentimes when folks are called to City Council hearings, it's a mad dash to report on all the great things that those systems are doing or can claim they're doing in response to victims of domestic violence. What we see and know and hear every day is that we're not getting the kind of support that we need in order to meet the needs of the victims that are here in Philadelphia. And in regards to statistics of homicides as it refers to domestic violence, and people have said that they believe that there's a drop in these statistics -- and recently our President 52 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 just mentioned a severe drop in homicides -- that also has a lot to do with how deaths are classified, whether they're classified as domestic in nature, and that there are a number of deaths that are domestic violence related but not classified as a domestic violence homicide. Each year our agency alone provides services to 10,000 individuals. We've been in the community for about 29 years, and next year we'll celebrate our 30th anniversary. The stark statistics, just to begin, just to name a few, is that it is estimated that over 500,000 women are stalked by an intimate partner each year in the United States. This was based on a report from the National Institutes of Justice. In 2004, again, there were reported that there were 110 domestic violence-related deaths in Pennsylvania. Again, these are deaths that are coded or 53 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 reported as domestic violence in nature. The truth is, no one knows exactly the statistics as they represent in Philadelphia, because we know that there are so many hundreds and thousands of women that don't report their situation to police, social service systems or their doctors or hospitals. And the experience of the four programs that are here today, Women Against Abuse, Women in Transition, Lutheran Settlement House Bilingual Domestic Violence Program and Congreso's Latina Domestic Violence Program, tell us that the numbers are incredibly high and they're incredibly limited resources in Philadelphia. It's been difficult for us to gather these statistics, but we know because we're the ones that are actually in the trenches doing the work. We're still far from knowing the true impact, both emotionally and economically, on our society. The problem is that while we 54 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 see these statistics increasing in our service numbers, we're also seeing a severe decrease in funding for essential services, not just at a federal, state, but also at a local level, and there haven't been significant new commitments in areas in which could provide resources to domestic violence. Every year in Philadelphia there is approximately 13,000 Orders of Protection filed. Of those 13,000 orders, 80 percent of those individuals have no representation while filing those orders. The four domestic violence agencies collectively see 18,000 individuals a year, and there were over 207,000 9-1-1 calls that were family violence related. As the fifth largest City in the nation, we have some of the most severe limitation of resources. The four agencies collectively have 104 full- and part-time staff that work to provide 55 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES.

050841 services in domestic violence, and that's folks who are doing the direct work. In New York, there's one program alone that has 600 individuals that work with victims. Just also another comparison, and I recognize we're a lot smaller than New York, but we have one shelter program versus New York that has different 11 shelter programs. We have 47 beds in 12 Philadelphia that are domestic violence 13 specific. We're working that towards the 14 end of this year, we will have expanded 15 those beds, and then we're hoping to double those beds in the coming year. Just to show the comparison, that means we have about one bed for every 23,000 residents. In comparison, Chicago has about one bed for every 13,000 residents. We have to turn away 120 women and children every month from shelter. Recently in the Inquirer report, it showed that in the entire 56 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 State of Pennsylvania in 2004 there were 9,727 individuals who sought and received shelter services, and that out of that number, there were an additional 3,428 individuals that were turned away. Just to show a comparison in need, in New Jersey, it was reported that there was 3,673 individuals seeking and receiving shelter and that in comparison only 1,916 individuals were turned away. We did generously receive money from the Mayor's office as a new initiative of $250,000 to enhance our existing hotline services. This was $250,000 that really needed to support the City-wide hotline that would actually cost about a million dollars to run. That's about a quarter of what it would take to actually adequately staff and equip a hotline that's truly needed for a City this size and of its nature and of the need that exists in the City of Philadelphia. While we're incredibly grateful for these resources, it really 57 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 does not speak to or show respect for the need of the resources in domestic violence. As mentioned by Carol Tracy, there was a Task Force appointed, and I would be remiss if I didn't say about the tremendous work that we have done as a Task Force in order to bring new resources to the City, and as was mentioned, Women Against Abuse worked with the Women's Law Project, as well as the City of Philadelphia to garner new resources in the City. So there's been tremendous energy that's been created by the Task Force, and we hope that along with members of City Council and our City leadership that we'll continue to have the resources needed. Domestic violence continues to be a huge need in our community. We need the support to operationally support the four domestic violence programs in Philadelphia, who really provide the 58 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 crucial services day to day. And I just wanted to thank you for your time for doing this, and, again, I could inundate you with more statistics and stories, but we really need your help. We need the help of the City and the leadership in the City.

Thank you. I have a couple of questions. Actually, when I was reading some of the testimony that came in yesterday and saw the numbers of housing units or numbers of people served in housing, I was like, Wow. Certainly we know it's a larger need than that. There are other resources, I'm assuming. I know that if you're in an abusive situation, it's great that Women Against Abuse is there with their shelters, but I imagine -- and I know some people that have moved in with relatives and people like that, and that has been somewhat helpful to some of the families, but can they still get 59 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 counseling and help through, say, Women Against Abuse or Women in Transition or one of the other agencies?

I think what's unique about the collaboration that exists in Philadelphia is, Women Against Abuse does meet a specific need in regards to emergency shelter, transitional housing and legal services, but then we have three amazing organizations in Philadelphia, Women in Transition, Lutheran Settlement House and Congreso, that do counseling services. And you're right, shelter services is not for everybody, just as legal recourse is not the safest and best approach for everybody, but they're a continuum of care. And I know later that some of those service providers are going to talk specifically about the need, because what we're seeing, and I mentioned severe funding cuts, is that folks don't want to look past shelter and legal services and recognize that there 60 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 are a lot of women that need the support of counseling services and other service that don't have to do with housing that are essential that actually are a prevention device or a supportive device to avoid having to deal with additional housing crisis.

Because prevention is something I know that we all really want to try to do, prevention through education or whatever services that we can offer, and I'll ask someone else later, but I imagine hopefully things are happening in schools. I mean, we can say "say no to drugs" to young elementary-aged children. We also want to say "say no to violence," not just street violence, family violence, and make people understand that if it's happening in their home, this is not normal, it's not the norm. Children won't do what you tell them to do, but they certainly can grow up and imitate what you do, and those are the kinds of 61 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 things that we want to stop.

One of the really difficult positions that all of the agencies have been in is that education dollars have been decreased significantly for domestic violence agencies, and we have had to make the decision about do we continue to be there to provide the direct service or do we provide the education in the schools, and, unfortunately, the resources are becoming more and more limited that our capacity to be able to do both effectively is really being impacted.

Okay. Now, what is the average length of stay in a shelter?

In the shelter, it's 45 days, and for our transitional housing, it's 11 to 12 months.

And after 45 days, what happens? It's not an automatic move, because I imagine you don't have room in the transitional 62 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 housing.

Correct. Well, we have units of transitional housing. 5 We work closely with the Office of 6 Emergency Shelter to try to move women 7 into transitional housing. We do provide 8 one-time extensions in our shelter. So 9 we do have some women that stay with us 10 slightly longer than 45 days, although 45 11 is the average. 12 We have women who relocate out of state. We have individuals who move into their own independent living transitional housing. Some end up back with their batterers, as well as there are other women that end up in other shelter systems, both out of county and in county.

Okay. Thank you. I guess what I'd like to do, I took some notes, but it would be nice if you could do as a follow-up information based on needs, on additional needs. 63 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841

Sure. Thank you.

You're welcome. I think Dr. Evans is here. Is Bob Hess here? No, I don't see him. Good afternoon, Dr. Evans.

Good afternoon.

I know I owe you a phone call.

I wasn't going to mention that. Because other people have come, my colleagues have come, and given you a lot of background, I'm going to try to jump around and just give you some highlights of my testimony. You have the written testimony. So rather than repeat some of the things that you've heard before, I'd like to focus on a few highlights relative to my Department. I'm Dr. Arthur Evans, Director of the Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services, and just 64 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 by way of review, my Department is a newly-formed Department that is composed of the Office of Mental Health, the Coordinating Office of Drug and Alcohol Programs, CBH and the Office of Mental Retardation Services. So I will try to talk about how those various entities are working on this issue. I have with me today in the audience Laura Dariggi (ph) and Michael Lewis, who are staff members, who I may call if you ask some questions that might require some additional detail. Let me sort of frame out the issue from our perspective, and I'll talk about three perspectives. One is from the perspective of victims of domestic violence, witnesses of domestic violence, which are often children, and then, thirdly, the perpetrators. In terms of victims, there are clearly some long-lasting psychological, emotional impacts related to the violence that people may have experienced. Those 65 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 can include things like post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, depression, anxiety disorders, migraines, seizures, a number of issues. I'm going to come back to the kinds of things that we're doing relative to that. In terms of children and the discussion that you just had relative to children and what kinds of services that are available for children, children who experience domestic violence or witnesses of domestic violence often are truant. They have problems with inattention, violence themselves, poor sleep and eating habits, substance abuse, poor academic performance, abuse of their siblings or peers, suicidal behavior, disregard of authority figures and so on. And so from our perspective, we want to treat not only the trauma, but also these other issues that arise as a result of the trauma or witnessing trauma that people might experience. Let me talk some about the 66 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 various initiatives that we are undertaking, and then I'll be open to questions that you might have. One of the initiatives that we're involved in is Pennsylvania's Domestic Violence Initiative, and in that initiative, we partner with the state and we have representatives from our Medicaid managed care companies, CBH, that participate in that initiative. That initiative is a state initiative really focused mainly on education, educating the public and specifically women who are at risk. Another initiative that's very important to us is that of training. Many of the people who experience domestic violence will end up in the behavioral health system. They will seek either mental health services or substance abuse services. And, frankly, one of the challenges that we've had in the field is that many of our services are not really equipped to deal with the 67 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 underlying trauma that many people have experienced, and so our approach is a two-pronged approach. First, we believe that all providers need to have an underlying or minimum level of ability to address trauma in the treatment services that they provide. One of the issues that often comes up is that we -- the trauma that people have experienced as a result of domestic violence may have been missed, and the one thing that we know, and we have lots and growing research showing, is that when we miss issues of trauma in trying to treat substance abuse or mental health problems, that we're not as effective.

And so we know we have to identify that early on in the treatment and then build that into our treatment. So that's one approach. And some of the things that we've done there is to offer ongoing training for all of our service providers. 68 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 The other strategy is to build into our service system specific programs to address trauma. So, for example, there is a model called the Trauma Recovery and Empowerment Model, or TREM. We've trained over 100 practitioners on that model, and we are working to incorporate that model into various treatment programs, again to deal specifically with the issue of trauma for people who are identified that way. Another initiative that we've been actively involved with is the Domestic Violence Court Intervention Project. The goal of this is for early intervention and the placement of first-time offenders into clinically-appropriate treatment to prevent further abuse. This is a six-month program, and it provides services to offenders, such as mental health and substance abuse treatment, case management services, batterer's intervention treatment, vocational 69 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 services, which is actually very important, because one of the risk factors for domestic violence is the level of stress, and you heard Carol Tracy mention that poverty exacerbates domestic violence. And so to the extent that people are gainfully employed, it reduces those stressors that may tend to lead to the kind of situations that lead to domestic violence. One of the resources that we are quite proud of that we've been able to implement here in the City is a website called Networks of Care. We launched this back earlier in the year, and this is a comprehensive website that does a couple of things, but two of them that are relevant to this topic is that it has a very extensive database of various kinds of issues, including domestic violence. And so it has a lot of information, both in terms of resources that are available and the issues in treating and working with 70 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 people who are victims of domestic violence. The other real important resource that this website provides is that it allows you to go in and to identify a whole host of services. org. So it's another very important resource. Then, finally, let me end by talking about some of the treatment approaches and some of the things we've done in terms of treatment. For women who are victims, we have outpatient services contracted through several organizations, including 71 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 Women Organized Against Rape, Wives Self-Help and Philadelphia Consultation Center. Additionally, we provide funding to Women in Transition and we've been involved with Women Against Abuse to offer other kinds of services. In terms of children, I'll give you some examples of some of the programs that we support. The Children's Crisis Treatment Center, which actually has developed a very nice and strong program to address trauma, and that's a program that we support quite actively. J. Peters Institute, Catholic Family Services, Assessment Treatment Alternatives, Philadelphia Consultation Center, as I mentioned earlier. All of those providers provide services for children who have witnessed domestic violence or have experienced some kind of trauma. And then, finally, one of the other important resources that we have 72 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 for this issue for women in particular is a series of residential services that allow women to come into substance abuse treatment and bring their children. If you were to look at women who are in treatment, in substance abuse treatment, in this City and any place around the country, you will find up to 80 percent of those women have been traumatized or are victims of abuse. And so having substance abuse treatment that is sensitive to issues of trauma is extremely important.

One of the things that we're quite proud of is that we've recently been able to increase the rates for those programs that allow women to go into treatment with their children, and we're working with those programs to not only tailor their services for women, but also to ensure that there are developmentally-appropriate services for the children who come with those women. In closing, I would again like 73 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 to thank you and the Council for giving us this opportunity to talk about some of the issues that we've been involved in, and we look forward to continuing to work with Council and our colleagues who are here and around the City who are committed to both preventing, eliminating this issue, but also serving the women, men, children who are victims. Thank you.

Thank you. You may have addressed this, but I'm not really sure. Are men or people that have a protection order filed against them, are they required to have a psychological?

I'm not really sure. My colleagues in the criminal justice system will probably better be able to answer that question.

It just seems that their behavior is just so --

The answer is no. 74 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841

Do you think they should?

I don't know. I think that they should receive some kind of intervention and treatment, and I think the basis of good treatment is always having a good evaluation or assessment. Whether they necessarily should receive a psychological, I don't know that I would advocate for that, but I do think that they should have a good assessment and a good treatment intervention developed for them.

Okay. Only because it just seems that they just totally go off. I mean, it just seems a little bit crazy to me.

Well --

Maybe I shouldn't use that word, but...

Well, one of the things that we do know is that many of the people who are abusers have been abused themselves, and so we know that 75 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 there are, I think as you're alluding to, many people do have underlying psychological issues that have gone untreated, where there has not been intervention, and so it's even more the reason to have a good assessment and treatment.

I'm going to raise this issue with you, but maybe someone else might be addressing it. I read about the billions of dollars that are lost in private industry due to workplace violence or violence that occurs in the workplace, and that seems to be an issue that when everybody talks about training, I haven't heard anyone mention yet that employers are encouraged or corporations are encouraged to participate or that they're even providing that type of education and training to corporations, be they non-profit, profit-making entities where people work, because certainly violence does occur in the workplace. 76 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841

Yes. I don't know. I mean, I think that, again, our colleagues in the domestic violence field have probably taken on that issue in some way in terms of public education, that kind of thing, but I think you're absolutely right. People who are in work settings are often victims, but that goes unnoticed, and often there isn't good ways of getting people into either treatment or to receiving some kind of intervention.

Because a lot of times it seems as if the attitude is that violence occurs in the home, and when it occurs outside the home, when it occurs outside of the home such as the workplace, nobody really wants to deal with it.

Yes.

So I just wanted to --

And I do think that that is a public education issue. It's 77 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 everyone's problem, not just the victim.

Right. Thank you. Thank you, Doctor. Thank you for coming in.

Thank you.

Bob Hess is not in the room, but we have Vieira, Executive Director of Lutheran Settlement House, and Ana Lisa Yoder. And then we can also bring up Roberta Hacker, Women in Transition. Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed.

Good afternoon. I'm Beatriz Vieira, Executive Director of Lutheran Settlement House.

And I'm Ana Lisa Yoder. I'm the Director for the Bilingual Domestic Program of the Lutheran Settlement House. And I wanted to just real quickly, if I can, address the issue -- you had asked the question about resources for men who batter. 78 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 There are not nearly enough resources, I think, in Philadelphia, but there are two very core and solid programs in Philadelphia that work with men who are abusive to their partners and women also, and that's Men's Resource Center and Menergy. And I guess one of the things I wanted to say in relationship to your question about PFAs and psychological evaluations is that I think that it's extremely important that the people who are working with people who are abusive to their partners are actually well trained and understand the dynamics of domestic violence, which is not always the case with folks who are doing therapy and a number of different systems. So I think having solid services from people who are trained to work with batterers specifically is very, very important, and I think as we were talking about resources, that's another piece of them. 79 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841

Okay.

And I have a follow-up for you also when you were talking about workplace policies. I'm Roberta Hacker from Women in Transition. I think it must be ten years ago by now that former Attorney General Mike Fisher had done a really intensive state-wide task force analysis and a comprehensive report, and part of the recommendations were workplace policies on domestic violence. And at one point, I think the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce tried to get something going, and that sort of fell by the wayside. But I will point out that the City of Philadelphia does not have workplace policies either. They're very difficult and very legal-intensive, but it might be a place for us to start in terms of leadership in the City, is for the City to look at some type of policies for this huge work 80 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 force.

Thank you. Go ahead. Did you give us written testimony? Did anybody there?

Yes, from Lutheran Settlement House. It says testimony of Beatriz Vieira and Ana Lisa Yoder.

You can proceed. I'll get my copy. I'll get a copy. Thank you.

I want to introduce you, Councilwoman, to Lutheran Settlement House, and I want to thank you for holding this hearing. This is very important, and we're very pleased that you've taken the time and the leadership to do this. We are a large social service organization in North Philadelphia. We were founded in 1902. So we have a long history in Philadelphia as a settlement house. We've been providing domestic violence services since 1977. We are 81 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 also a multi-service provider. Therefore, individuals who come to us are able to access services in terms of education, employment, counseling. And we also have a senior center, really allowing us to be able to look at the whole span, at the whole family, including older women. We were founded by the Lutheran Church, and we are also maintaining our affiliation with Lutheran services in America, which is our national umbrella organization. There are 300 organizations, Lutheran-affiliated organizations in the country, and we are one of them and there are seven of us in our area. We function in the belief that all of our families and individuals really deserve educational, economic opportunities and have the right to live safely and with dignity. We at this point, just to tie it back into what Roberta was saying, we 82 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 are an employer as well and have looked at domestic violence also, how it impacts our employees, and have a number of employees who either have experienced domestic violence as a victim or as well as perpetrators. And it is very delicate, but a very important place to focus attention. So we would support you and the City in looking at those issues. We also want to acknowledge the work of the community in Philadelphia, really of the Task Force and of the service providers, which includes Women in Transition, Congreso, Women Against Abuse, Women's Law Project and, of course, Lutheran Settlement House. This has been really an exciting time to work together. It has been very challenging as well, and we know that as we continue our work, more challenging times are ahead of us, given that we know that the needs for our services will increase and the resources for our services continue to decrease. 83 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 And I would like to say that part of what Ana Lisa and I are interested in talking about and interested in focusing on is something that you picked up before, which is that housing and shelter is only one of the issues that we are looking at, that continuous support before, during and after a victim takes an action is important and vital in Philadelphia. We also want to talk about the importance of safe and affordable housing. As you know, an important issue in Philadelphia. So in closing and before I introduce Ana Lisa Yoder, who will speak more in particular about our services and our needs and our requests, I would like to say that we are here to support the citizens of Philadelphia, to support and to work in partnership with you, and would be happy to support you in the work that you're doing.

Thank 84 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 you.

My name is Ana Lisa Yoder. I'm the Director of the Bilingual Domestic Violence Program of Lutheran Settlement House, and I want to also thank you, Councilwoman, for the opportunity to talk about the state of domestic violence services in our City. The Lutheran Settlement House's Bilingual Domestic Violence Program, as Bia said, has been serving battered women in Philadelphia for 29 years, and we were the first organization in the State of Pennsylvania to provide bilingual, culturally-appropriate services to battered Latinas. In 1976, we provided leadership in founding the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and since 2002, our last hearing, we've served over 7,500 survivors of domestic violence through an array of services. We've expanded our medical advocacy program to address domestic 85 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 violence victims in a pediatric healthcare setting in a largely Latino neighborhood, recognizing that the best way to keep children safe is to keep moms safe when there is domestic violence. We've also added a transitional housing program for women leaving emergency shelter to promote economic self-sufficiency and permanent housing following abuse. And, finally, along with our sister agencies, we have merged our hotlines together to create a City-wide domestic violence hotline for Philadelphia. We are grateful in particular for the dedication of specific funding from the City for the hotline, and we want to especially thank Rob Hess of the Managing Director's office for his hard work and support of his project. We stand in solidarity with our sister organizations, Women Against Abuse, Women in Transition and Congreso, 86 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 to continue to advocate for increased shelter beds in Philadelphia dedicated to survivors of domestic violence. The lack of safe and confidential shelter and affordable housing is felt by all of our organizations as we struggle to serve women in Philadelphia escaping violence. On a regular basis, we are forced to relocate women to other counties or states because there are no 12 beds in Philadelphia or the surrounding regions. In one recent situation in our program, we had to send a woman as far away as Baltimore, Maryland. That was the closest domestic violence shelter that had space to take her. While the increase in shelter beds is crucial, emergency shelter is only one of the many needs of victims and survivors, and in our experience, a variety of services, resources and options before, during and after a victim takes action is essential to create and maintain safety, change and 87 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 self-sufficiency. Our counselors walk beside these women as they struggle to make sound decisions about the safety of themselves and their children, develop strategies to increase self-sufficiency and struggle to understand the violence they've experienced so that they and their children are not doomed to repeat the same pattern in a new relationship. As one of our clients who left her abusive relationship and has continued to participate in our support groups recently told us, I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for LSH. The counseling and advocacy services that domestic violence agencies provide are crucial in helping women escape violence safely, recognizing that leaving an abusive relationship or increasing safety is a process that involves careful planning, resources and emotional support. In addition, as research has 88 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 shown and our experience confirms, supportive services must be present at all stages of change. With more than 207,000 domestic violence-related 9-1-1 calls made to the Philadelphia Police Department in 2004, the resources are woefully inadequate. I am here to advocate for increases in funding for the continuum of services needed to impact the quality of life of victims and survivors.

All of our agencies do this work with far too little funding and staff who are, nonetheless, extremely dedicated. Battered women are seen in every City system, including public health centers, child and adult protective services, mental health centers, homeless services and the prison system. These systems have an opportunity to create a first contact that is effective. They need to be educated to screen survivors of domestic violence effectively and safely, to know 89 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 the resources that are available and to understand the terrific obstacles that a woman faces, including poverty, isolation, cultural and language barriers and generations of socialization. As LSH has seen through its work with the Philadelphia Prison System, a large percentage of women who are incarcerated have experienced domestic violence. Support of these victims behind the walls as well as for re-entry is one of the areas we need particular attention and funding. We need dedicated funding to address the particular needs of these victims as they attempt to reintegrate into our communities. I want to request that the City continue and increase funding for the 800 hotline, in addition to dedicated funding to domestic violence supportive services provided by the domestic violence agencies that have over 30 years of experience and state and national connections to serve battered women. 90 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 Thank you again for this opportunity to speak today, and I want to strongly urge City Council to continue to make effective responses to domestic violence a priority in our City.

In comparison to other cities, you've actually found a bed in Baltimore. I would think that Baltimore's beds were full. Just do a regional comparison, Philadelphia versus Baltimore, how many beds does Baltimore have?

I don't actually have the particulars of that. I wonder if maybe Cynthia Figueroa knows that. I don't think we have the figures of that city, but we do know, as Cynthia said earlier, that the number of beds for Philadelphia is woefully beneath other large cities like ours.

I do know a couple of cities. New York, which is five times our size, has --

Carol 91 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 Tracy.

Sorry.

You have to tell the stenographer who you are.

Okay. Carol Tracy, Women's Law Project. New York has almost 1,900 beds dedicated to domestic violence. Chicago has 239. Now, Chicago is twice our size. New York is five times our size. Boston has 96. It's about half our size. And none of them meet the demand. And in New York, generally, people can stay for 45 to 90 days. So they have much longer time. So we are not anywhere near where we should be. And, again, these are not homeless shelter beds, these are dedicated domestic violence shelter beds.

And the beds are free, correct? There's no 23 charge, there's no fee?

Right.

All 92 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 right. Thank you.

All of our services are free.

But I also do want to also, I guess, just acknowledge what you brought up earlier, is the issue of -- again, the shelter piece is extremely important, but also recognizing that there's so many other services that come in between that that really need to be funded as well.

Thank you. Women in Transition.

Right. Hi. Thank you, Councilwoman. Roberta Hacker from Women in Transition. Councilwoman, as I sit here before you today, our country is waging a war against another country and its people are forced to live in a war zone. Yet right here, in our own City, as you well know, women and children are living in their own private war zones, otherwise 93 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 known as their homes. Amazingly, many of these women and children have courageously escaped the imprisonment of their own private terrorists, their partners, husbands and lovers, and yet sadly the terrorism has taken the lives of many others, mothers, fathers and children left orphans after watching their fathers kill their mothers. It is for these people that I'm here today representing Women in Transition. We're also known as WIT. I have been the Executive Director of Women in Transition for nearly years, and in 2006, we're going 17 to begin celebrating our 35th anniversary 18 of providing services to the City of 19 Philadelphia. 20 And back in 1971 when we began our work with women in marital transition, separation and divorce, we recognized a growing prevalence of violence and substance abuse in marital relationships. We understood the 94 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 problems of battered women were complex and severe, and we developed and continue to operate today a comprehensive counseling service to empower battered women to take control over their lives, eliminate their vulnerability to oppressive and abusive relationships. Through our work, WIT was a pioneer in developing a peer support group counseling model, our Lifeline Group series, based on the belief that women can learn from and support each other regardless of their diverse differences and that through such support, they can gain control over their own lives, make significant changes and transform a life crisis into a meaningful transition. Throughout our 35 years, WIT has adapted the group model for separated and divorced women, battered women, widows, women re-entering the work force, women confronting substance abuse and lesbians experiencing intimate partner 95 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 violence. Our Lifeline Support Group Program is composed of a series of sequential groups which offer unrestricted lifeline services. Each group functions as a phase of skill development: Empowerment, education and healing. The groups run in seven-week cycles, meeting once a week for two hours. The group series concludes with a survivors group, which celebrates the successful actions and accomplishments that our women have achieved. The group format reinforces skills for women to establish equal relationships that are free of violence and substance abuse, and skills to prevent a woman's isolation through the involvement in a support network. On October 19th, WIT brought together over 50 women who had graduated from our survivors group. These women form WIT's Survivors Network. They now will embark on a training program to 96 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 become spokespersons for WIT, to conduct independent advocacy campaigns and to promote a greater public awareness about the crucial link between domestic violence, substance abuse, child abuse and community violence. I am giving you this information about WIT because our work is an illustration of a belief in the incredible abilities of people to transform life crises into meaningful life transitions. Even though we are frequently overwhelmed by media reports that detail the impact of poverty, violence and substance abuse on the lives of women and the future of their children, these scenarios can be changed. With ample resources and appropriate interventions, battered and substance-abusing women have proven that they can positively change their lives. People's lives are very complicated, so we must accept that change is a process, a process that does 97 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 not occur overnight.

To reduce the number of family war zones in the City of Philadelphia, we need the City of Philadelphia to provide leadership and support to implement a comprehensive strategy that will provide resources beyond crisis intervention services, such as shelters, hotlines and the police. Our lives are a continuum of change. So if we truly believe that women can transform from a victim to a survivor, then we must find a way to better fund and expand our existing resources to provide a continuum, a lifeline. The greater problem yet is that as a society, we have not even tipped the iceberg when it comes to changing the predatory pattern of violence against women and children, a pattern that is passed on from one generation to the next, reinforced through the media, sports, family traditions and a country that uses violence and force in an effort 98 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 to make peace. So it is time for the City of Philadelphia to provide leadership by expanding our efforts to hold the abusers accountable for their violent behavior through anti-violence media campaigns, anti-violence education for men and boys, and batterers intervention programs that will help these men transform their lives as well. Thank you.

Thank you. I was just sitting here thinking that there's funding and people are doing things around anti-violence, period, based on the number of shootings and other kinds of incidents that we have in Philadelphia, and it would just to me seem to be very simple to add some of those right to brochures.

Councilwoman, it's been a concern of mine for so many years, I can't even begin to tell you, that all 99 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 of the anti-violence work that's been done in the City, including these incredible men that have organized in their own communities to talk to young boys about violence and guns and the like, they have totally missed the fact that violence begins at home. That's where it's learned. That's where it's passed on. And these are men that we could look up to to really promote the Men Can campaign or even promote other avenues for young men, as well as young women, to recognize through all the violence in their lives and it's not the way to live.

You're right, and I believe that they would help. I work with several of those groups, Men United for a Better Philadelphia. In fact, one of the Northwest Coordinators is one of my staff members. So I don't see them being opposed to helping in this kind of a situation, and maybe at some point we can 100 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 get together with them.

We do have to make those links.

I work with a number of those types of groups. And I know them. They're good guys, and I don't think they'd ever be opposed to doing something like this, actually.

That would be great.

Just adding the message. It's as simple as that. All right. I want to thank all three of you ladies for coming in today.

Thank you.

And we have two more witnesses, Congreso and Melvin Figueroa. While we're changing, is there anyone else that is not on the list to testify that wants to testify today? (No response.)

Okay. 101 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 Thank you. We can get started with Congreso, and then, Mr. Figueroa, you can go. In this room today, you're a man, you go last.

I see that already.

No. 10 You're on the list last anyway. So we'll hear from Congreso and then we'll hear from you. Okay?

Thank you.

Thank you. Hi.

Let me begin by thanking you, Councilwoman, for your continued leadership and willingness to address the devastating impact and reality of domestic violence in our families and communities. My name is Lisa Cordeiro Kricun and I am with Congreso de Latinos Unidos. I'm with the Division of Health Promotion and 102 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 Wellness, which houses our domestic violence services. On behalf of Congreso and the domestic violence provider community, I'm honored to speak to you today about domestic violence, giving perhaps a new perspective as you discussed domestic violence three years after the hearings of 2002 and on the eve of the perhaps long overdue conference and attention on missing persons. However, let me preface my testimony by saying that while a missing person often may be indicative of domestic violence at its worst, we must remember that it may also represent a battered individual in hiding, one of the most extreme measures that millions of women take every year out of desperation. We must keep that in mind as we look for new approaches to missing persons and domestic violence. Nevertheless, Congreso has served nearly 5,000 women, men and child 103 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 victims of domestic violence since our last testimony before City Council on a small budget of less than $500,000 in the context of 30,000 served through Congreso and our sister organizations, Women in Transition, Women Against Abuse and Lutheran Settlement House. We have spent many, many hours over the last year working hard to launch the new City-wide hotline for victims of domestic violence that I am happy to say is alive and well, but I must also take this opportunity to say that the dollars most graciously allocated by the City of Philadelphia as a result of these initial hearings meets only one-third of the budget required for this line based on call volume and demand for interpretation experienced in just one short month of operations. Additionally, Congreso has experienced a tremendous increase in walk-in clients in the past few weeks as a result of the additional publicity done for the hotline. 104 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 The Philadelphia Domestic Violence Coalition is working hard to quickly raise additional funds to adequately meet the presenting demand. We welcome continued support and leadership from this Committee in doing so. I have chosen to speak to you today on behalf of the millions of children who witness violence in their home every year in Philadelphia alone. These silent victims bear the scars of trauma at the most intimate level that most often lead directly to mental health problems that plague our juvenile justice system, our medical system, our school system and our behavioral health system, and that often result in perpetuating violence and domestic violence later in their adult life. Congreso has served these children with clinical services since 1996 and sees firsthand the impact of the grossly underfunded social problem and 105 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 population. In our most recent pre and adolescent support group for these children, every child shared their thoughts and intentions around suicide in that safe and supportive environment, as well as their shame, guilt, blame and anger. Nearly 100 children last year shared with our Anti-Bullying Educator the reality of domestic and family violence in their home through our Bullying Prevention Program at Hunter Elementary School. Through both these programs, Congreso served over 400 children last year creatively with extremely modest funds and the support of student interns and Americorps. If we seek to increase funds in just one area alone this year, it is perhaps most vital in services to the children who are poised to repeat the cycle. There is tremendous cost-effective potential in model programs recognized throughout the 106 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 country.

I urge you today to consider new resources for this most vulnerable population. While my testimony today is focused on the children, it is also important to mention the tremendous need for legal advocacy and justice for those victimized by their abuser and then again by the system with a lack of legal representation, language interpretation and often belief in their physical and emotional scars. As one of the DV agencies providing counseling services to survivors, it also bears mentioning that there is a great need for clinical services for many women suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and the impact that systemic injustice in the legal and medical community has on their level of functioning. Finally, our wish is for support in helping the Latina matriarch of the family who desperately wants help 107 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 for her abusive husband and father of her children so that the abuse will just stop. I thank you so much for this opportunity, and I look forward to Congreso and the Philadelphia Domestic Violence Coalition remaining a resource for the City of Philadelphia as you continue to seek new ways to address the issue of domestic violence and perhaps in the context of missing persons. Thanks again.

Thank you. Now, wouldn't you have access to clinical services through the Health Department or through CBH, through the mental health services here in Philadelphia?

For a lot of the Latino clients that we see at places like Congreso, one of the primary barriers to clinical services like mental health services are language. It's very hard 108 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 for our clients who are primarily Spanish-speaking, there are not as many bilingual-trained therapists out there. So there's just limited resources. It's a little bit more -- there are fewer of them out there for some of our clients.

Well, if language wasn't a barrier, the service would be available, correct?

There are services for children, yes. Actually, there's been mention of them. There have been mention of programs, Children's Crisis Treatment Center and others, that serve children who have witnessed violence.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Mr. Figueroa.

Figueroa.

Right. I know how to say your name.

Yes. Good afternoon.

Good 109 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 afternoon.

I'm the father of Latoyia Figueroa. She was killed by her boyfriend, and not only her, she was five months pregnant with his child. It was his daughter he killed also. I have learned as a father that to lose a child like this in violence on the street is something, you know -- to me, it's very hard, for 31 days without eating, sleeping, running out there every day and coming out and asking police officers to help us, to ask them for help. And I understand it's the law, they have to be out 72 hours for them to come out and to help us to look for -- to begin to search in that 72 hours that they have also to come out and search for a missing child. I think this is too much crucial time for any parents to go through. To me, personally, I'm really destroyed inside, but to me, it's like I said, us by living in the community in 110 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 Philadelphia and being a resident of Philadelphia, what we have to do is get involved in communities, go out and help other parents for them not to go through what I've been through, you know. For 31 days that we have been searching, me and my family, you know, it's very crucial. We was out there very hard. And in my heart, I knew deep in my heart, this young boyfriend of hers had something to do with it. And to this day, I still feel that by us being tenants of Philadelphia, we got to stick together and really help these other programs and keep these programs alive and really help them out, because, believe me, there's a lot of violence out there. Not only crucial with the parents, a lot of violence with guns, drugs and stuff out in the neighborhoods. And the only way we can try to straighten things like this out is if the community get together, not only with Councilmen, with people living on 111 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 the block in the neighborhoods, you know. There's a lot of crazy stuff still going on out here, but what I'm still looking for is to go out and help other parents, which we are Friday at 5:30 p.m., we're having a candlelight vigil for missing people, for missing parents or missing children, whatever, out there on 52nd and Market. Me and Councilman Juan Ramos is having this. And also we'd like to invite all these young ladies to come out also to support us. It's not only for my daughter, there's other missing children out there, you know, and other missing parents. Because, believe me, we are the children of the Lord. It doesn't matter what nation you are or what church we go to. We're all the children of the Lord. We are all out there trying to help. And, also, we're also having a thing on this Saturday, November the 5th at West Philly High School from 10:00 to 2:00. There's going to be also an open 112 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 speaker to help other parents to come out and speak about what happened in their situation, because we still have a lot of other missing children out there, and it's hard when people don't really know how to go through it. Because me as a father, I never thought in a million years this was going to happen to me, but by this happening to me, this kept me real strong to come out and to speak and also to speak to other parents that are going through what I've been through. And I hate to see any other family member or any parent to go through what I went through. These seven months, it's been very hard for me, but as long as I keep having faith in God and keep on moving forward to help other groups out there, I think I feel real happy to do this and continue doing this to help other family members. I believe we do have -- we do need help out here. It's not only me, 113 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 there's a lot of other missing children out there. There's a lot of parents out there still that don't know how to go about looking for their children, you know, but, believe me, 72 hours, to me, that's a long time.

What was the 72 hours you said that --

That was the 72 hours when I went to a police officer -- when I went through 55th and Pine, the police officer told me that they could not start searching until after 72 hours. They can't go out and start searching. And they came out and said about -- they go, Yeah, she probably was married, she probably left and stuff like that. You know what I mean? To me, I know my daughter very well. For a father, believe me, my daughter would never have did such a thing. They said that's the law, and I understand, I respect the law, but me being a caring parent, a caring father, I 114 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 went out and we got my family together and friends and cousins and people to come out to help me, because it was real hard for me. Today it's still hard, you know.

Right. I'd like to commend you on how you did go out and begin to organize people to help you. I thought that was really good. Plus your friends and family members are to be commended also, because they cared enough about you and about your daughter to give you the support that you really needed. I thought that was really good when we started to see it on the news. It was really brave, and I do understand that you feel 72 hours is a critical time.

Yeah, it is.

So you really have our respect and our heartfelt sympathy. I tried to follow as much as I could about your daughter and about your 115 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 plight in the newspaper. I am also a parent who has lost a child, not to violence but to cancer, and my daughter was years old when she 6 died of bone cancer. So I know the pain 7 of losing a child. I just know that 8 pain. 9

It's a pain that 10 I hate to see any other parent go 11 through. 12

You don't 13 want to see anybody else go through that. 14

Anyone, any 15 parent, because it's very hard. 16

Yes, it 17 is. 18

I say the devil 19 is constantly busy. The devil never 20 sleeps. He's always out there.

That's right.

I feel very happy. The groups here that spoke today was very nice, because it is a way that 116 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 we all need to stick together and support other people, because there is a lot of violence out there. Not only with the violence, the drugs and the killing, you know, especially with all these guns from parents. You cannot actually really -- I kept on hearing about it comes from the home. It doesn't really -- some of it does, but some of it doesn't. The majority comes from the street, the neighborhoods where we live in, the particular neighborhoods. That's where it really comes from. You could be the best parent in the world and treat your children in how to respect them and go out there, but you have to realize what's really going on in the street. It's not actually coming from the house. Some of the stuff does come from the house, but when you get involved in the drugs and the violence and stuff, it's really actually coming from the streets. 117 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841

Sure.

And us by being residents of Philadelphia, we got to go out there and help these people, because it's not what the drugs -- it's the drug-users we got to be scared of. These are the ones that are robbing you. These are the ones that take your kids and sell your kids drugs and get your kids into drugs. There's a lot of things out there, you know. Believe me, I would love to help any young lady group here. I mean, that's something that I understand is very hard, you know, and to me, really it's just hard. To me, it's like every time I speak on this, it takes a lot out of me, because I miss my daughter dearly. Like my granddaughter, she's going through a lot. But, like I say, just go forward. We got to keep our heads up and look forward to help other people. That's my goal to do.

And we 118 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 thank you for that. Thank you for your willingness to help other people. That's really needed, and that actually will help you with your healing because you'll be there to help other people.

That's what keeps me strong, that and the Lord. That's what keeps me strong.

That's right. So we want to thank you for coming in today. I'd like to thank everyone for coming in and -- Carol Tracy, Howard just reminded me. Was House Bill 17 -- what's the number? 1717? 1717 passed yesterday? That's an ordinance -- not an ordinance; a bill that Councilman Clarke and I introduced here in Philadelphia City Council to encourage the state to do the authorizing legislation around the abusers not being able to carry weapons. Is that the one we're talking about?

Let me explain 119 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 where it is. I don't know if -- it got out of Senate Committee. The Senate floor voted. I don't know if the Governor has signed it yet.

But it was voted out yesterday?

Yes. And there are several important provisions of it. One is, it extends the PFA to up to 36 months, which is important. It's currently at months. In New Jersey, 13 for example, it's a lifetime. So 36 14 months is at least moving in the 15 appropriate direction. 16 The other provision of it 17 relates to guns. As the PFA statute is 18 currently written, guns that are used or weapons that are used in the commission of the assault can be confiscated. If the abuser has other guns, under the current law, the current civil statute, they cannot be confiscated. So this bill 24 attempts to remedy that. There's been a fair amount of 120 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 controversy and compromise associated with it. As you might imagine, the NRA opposed this bill. And the compromise that was reached, which is better than nothing, not what advocates would have preferred, but it does allow for the confiscation of all the weapons. However, instead of being turned over to the Sheriff in the local county or in Philadelphia, because the Sheriff does confiscate the guns in Philadelphia, the police do as well, but instead of turning them over to the Sheriff, the defendant/respondent has the option of putting them in safe-keeping with a third party. Now, yes, I can see as you're rolling your eyes, it's quite apparent where that problem is. However, the third party has to sign an affidavit that this third party will not let the abuser have access to these guns for the duration of the PFA, and if the third party does turn over these guns, the 121 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 third party is subject to a criminal misdemeanor charge. And the third party has to sign this affidavit within -- I can't remember if it's within hours or 6 72 hours -- has to actually come into the 7 Sheriff's office. 8 So as many safeguards as were 9 possible were put in place. And it is 10 unusual for a defendant rather than a 11 judge to make this sort of decision, and 12 that, of course, is where the controversy 13 was. 14 The Governor's office did not 15 like this at all, but from what I gather, 16 if it wasn't this, the NRA would have 17 opposed it completely, and the NRA, as 18 you know, has a significant amount of 19 influence in the Pennsylvania legislature 20 and the bill would have failed, and the 21 other provisions were important, as is 22 this provision, because it still can 23 permit the confiscation of all the 24 weapons. The defendant can choose to give it to a third party. Apparently, 122 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841 some of the rationale for this is, the Sheriff wasn't taking good care of some of these expensive firearms that these abusers had in their possession. But it's a little better.

It's a little better, but you'd also think that women across Pennsylvania can be as strong a force as NRA, because domestic violence doesn't just happen in Philadelphia, but it happens everywhere.

Well, the guns are considerably more complex in rural Pennsylvania. Yes, I think there are as many of us and we're as strong. We're just not as rich.

Right. That's true.

That is a very rich and powerful lobby. As you know, any kind of measures that City Council has tried to enact to limit gun control -- or to enforce gun control are met with opposition at the state level. 123 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841

But we've gotten help, though, from -- Representative Myers introduced a bill, Senator Leahy in Washington. So it seems to me we're getting more help.

Yes. We have plenty of strong advocates from Philadelphia. Not all. We have a few problems with some of our legislators on the gun issue.

Okay. So I want to thank you. Thank you all for coming in. Thank you, Mr. Figueroa. I know you did make the announcement about Friday and Saturday.

Yes.

And I know that there are posters near every elevator in City Hall that makes the announcement about West Philadelphia High School.

Yes. That's the school my daughter attended. 124 11/2/05 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 050841

Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. This Committee is recessed to the call of the Chair. Thank you. (Committee on Public Safety adjourned at 3:15 p.m.) - - - 125 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on November 2, 2005, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)